Sunday, 27 August 2017

How
many times have people you know, or indeed, yourself, expressed the wish to be
‘lifted’ out of this World, away from its madness and vexatious cruelty, to a
fair and equitable technological paradise?

In
my case I’ve heard it quite a few times.

Of
course, the wish itself is a Fantasy, just a Day Dream, but what if it was
really possible, for Humanity to build itself a future, that did indeed
resemble Star Trek?

Technology has progressed by leaps and bounds
over the last hundred years. Who knows what might be discovered in the next
hundred?

So
possibilities are there, maybe not for ‘Warp Drive’ and ‘Matter Transporters’,
but for a High Tech egalitarian society, a Planet at peace with itself, and
outward looking to the Stars.

Chance
would be a fine thing, most people will say at this point.

So,
why is that? What is holding Humanity back from focussing its efforts on
realising the Dream of a Technological, Equitable, Paradise?

Well,
obviously the Humans are.

Humans
band together. Humans form groups. Humans steal from each other. Humans embrace
feuds and wars that last millennia.

So,
the real problem that needs addressing, is how do you bring together the entire
planet, so that the whole potential knowledge base and research capability of
Humanity can be focussed, on the common good, and on the development of space
travel?

I
made the big assumption that Space Travel is key to a Star Trek future, and
most Trekkies would be nodding their heads quite vigorously right now.

Space
Travel does not have to be essential, but it’s nice for the story.

It
also gives the boffins something to do.

So,
how do you bring people together?

I
have the box set of Star Trek the original series, for research purposes, and I
will be trawling it for hints of how they may have reached their advanced
technological and social state.

As
far as I remember, (I was a big fan), they speak of great wars and unrest, to a
certain extent mitigated by ‘oppressed parties’ emigrating from Earth, Khan for
example, which led to the eventual unification of Earth, and with the Vulcans,
eventually the United Federation of Planets.

So,
the implication is that the early unification of Earth, was mostly by military
force, and the successor ‘Empire’, evolving into a ‘Republic’.

Later
films have first contact with the Vulcans played out as a key influence in
Humanities unification and advancement.

We
have to assume, I think, that realistically, Humanity in its isolated spot in
the Universe, cannot expect a Humanoid Alien Race, to just drop by, and say
hello.

So,
Humanity is on its own for the forseeable future.

The
question then must be, how do you organise one country, in such a way, that it
is both attractive to outside countries, fair to its own citizens, and
economically and militarily dominant?

This
would have to be a country, that can maintain a decent and fair internal
Government, with fair economic distribution, and yet still have the power to
annex, or subsume, other parts of the world into itself?

Which
countries then, are likely to fit this description?

Well,
of course there aren’t any at the present.

China
has some of the necessary attributes, and maybe, with some internal
alterations, it might be a civilization that could in effect take over the
world, and create the foundation for a highly research focussed society.

Other
countries could with more difficulty, make that leap, it all depends on how
much blood shed is envisaged in the unification process.

It
is clear that the Star Trek Federation, is a Humanist, but tolerant, regime,
which, unfortunately means that very many countries around the world at the
moment, would be culturally unsuitable in their present state, to take part.
For example, they don’t have the Death penalty or indeed, the repression of
Women. As far as economic privilege is concerned, they don’t say that much
about it.

On
board ship, they talk of Military Ranks, Shore Leave, Retirement, and so on.
They don’t mention Pay Packets, Pay Rises or Home buying.

It
is probably safe to assume they have some Monetary system. They do have
travelling Merchants (Trouble with Tribbles), but little mention is made of
large corporations.

Robots,
and Computers exist, but are not dominant. Just look at the bridge of the Enterprise,
quite a large crew, handling tasks you might think could be done by one
computer alone. In my novel Metacosmoclypse, I have few shipboard computers,
with the justification that Computers had been ‘hacked’ by hostile aliens in
the past, and human crew, were less vulnerable.

The
crew of the Enterprise, does not include Robots, with crewmen handling every
apparent task. Could that be seen as a conscious economic policy? A policy to
provide jobs for people maybe?

In
a later series, Lt Cdr Data, comes along, with the story arc, that he was a one
off, an aberration, a sentient AI, with the implication that such were unknown
to Federation science.

In
the original series various alien artefacts were purported to have sentience,
even a Planet itself in one episode.

All
in all though, the Star Trek future depicted in the series, does not show
technology replacing Humanity, but working alongside.

This
is a major cultural difference between the present day reality of life and the
dream of the future.

Technology
is almost entirely harnessed to reduce costs, and the chief cost is Labour,
Employees. So, a shift in attitude towards technological advancement is
required. Technology used and developed, to increase quality of output rather
than simply reduce cost, technology to add value to production without simply
removing value from the Collected Workforce.

We
live under a system that is entirely dependent on ‘Market Forces’, a system
that does not support development that is best for Humanity, merely supports
development that achieves a Profit.

And
even then the system is distorted by the sheer size and financial resources of
some of its Players, people and corporations who can muster finances that can
maintain Loss making situations until the competition is gone, who can warp
whole markets, societies and communities with the click of a mouse button.

How
do you win these people round? How do you convince these people that what they
are doing is often quite wrong? How do you get them to focus their resources on
creating a future that benefits everyone, and not just themselves?

The
answer is, you probably can’t.

This
is really sad.

So
the question should not be, how do we create a Star Trek future, but how do we
bring peace and common sense to the present.

How
does Humanity stop its endless cycle of Wars, and Exploitation?

What
does it take to make Humans sit back and say, “You know what, we’re going to
stop fighting and robbing each other.”

I
don’t think even the gods can be expected to know the answer to that one.

Monday, 21 August 2017

The How Evil Am I? Check list.
Answer each question that follows honesty, scoring one point for a yes, zero points for a no.
1: You're walking in the Park, someone drops their Wallet. They haven't noticed. Do you pick it up and keep it?
2: A Colleague at Work is really getting on your tits. You see a way to drop them in it, without risk to yourself. Do you do it?
3: You're Shopping at the Mall, it's Christmas, and you want a Barbie Doll for your Daughter. There is one left, and a little girl further from it than you, is talking excitedly about that very Doll. Do you take the Doll anyway?
4: You're out with friends, one of whom gets in a fight, do you back him up?
5: You're out with friends, one of whom gets in a fight, do you run away?
6: Your home is being invaded. You have a Gun, do you shoot the invader?
7: Your next door neighbour is arguing with a stranger, do you ignore them.
8: Your next door neighbour is beating his Wife, do you ignore them.
9: Your next door neighbour is loading someone's body into his car boot. Do you ignore him.
10: Your neighbour is really struggling to move the body, do you offer to lend a hand?
11: A train arrives at a Station. A body has burst across it's front, and the driver hasn't noticed. Do you laugh?
12: Your at the Station, someone clearly in distress, is hovering by the platform edge. Do you ignore them?
13: Someone is at the platforms edge, do you watch to see if they jump?
14: As 13, but do you have your Phone ready to get some You Tube footage?
15: You have a new Job in the City. You have to swindle Pension Accounts. Do you stay with the job?
16: Your Boss says it's victimless crime, and that finessing money from Pension Funds is just normal business and not dishonest. Do you believe him?
17: You walk passed a Homeless Person on the Street. Do you ignore her?
18: You walk passed a Homeless Person on the Street. Do you come back later with an indecent proposal?
19: You walk passed a Homeless Person on the Street. Do you come back with your friends later and beat her to death?
20:Do you eat live vegetables? (Fruit and Grains are exempt)
21: Do you eat meat?
22: Are you prepared to Kill in Self Defence?
23: Are you prepared to Kill for a Religious Cause?
24: Are you prepared to Kill for Personal Gain?
25: Do you Kill for the sheer Joy and Fun of the Act?
26: When you see a Tragedy on the News, do you ignore it?
27: When you see a Tragedy on the News, do you watch avidly, grateful that it wasn't you?
28: When you see a Tragedy on the News, do you get out the Popcorn and beer?
29: Are you jealous of other People?
30: Do you belittle other People you worry might be better than you at something?
31: Do you wish Ill of other People?
32: Have you ever prayed for the demise of one or more people?
33: Do you want more Wealth than you presently have?
34: Do you hoard what Wealth you have?
35: Do you deny yourself or your loved ones, simply to meet a 'Financial Target'?
36: Do you conspire with others to gain more Wealth, at the expense of others?
37: Do you try to engineer events, in business or in career, to advance you or your kin, over other people?
38: Do you see other People as your property?
39: Do you believe you are more important than other People?
40: Do you keep Friends only so long as they are useful?

Monday, 31 July 2017

Technology, Humanities greatest aid and comfort, is out
stripping the imagination of the people who use it.

Resources, by their very nature, are limited. Skilled and
Unskilled Human Labour is one such Resource.

It is however, a Resource for which Technology has become a
perfect substitute.

The problem this poses affects everyone.

A glut has been created in the Labour Market. There are now
far too many people, who previously would have undertaken Skilled or Unskilled
Labour, who just aren’t needed any more.

This situation is only going to get worse, as Robotics and
Computer systems replace more occupations.

Now the Market is in a quandary.

Everyone knows the Markets are rigged to suit the dominant
players, who vary depending on whose star is rising or falling at any one time,
but in a Consumer Economy, you need Consumers.

You need the Little Guys, who have a job or a small
business, to be able to go shopping.

As more of these people fall by the wayside, as their Jobs
and Businesses are destroyed by Technological advances, Demand for Consumer
Goods will fall.

Now, everyone cannot be a Day Trader, unless the Market is
Rigged in perpetuity to create rigged profits for everyone (or everyone in a
select club).

So, some kind of Plan, some kind of provision needs to be
drawn up for those people who are being disenfranchised, disinherited,
dispossessed, of livelihoods, businesses, and communities, by unregulated
technological change.

Many people hold the Tough Luck, Sink or Swim view of life,
and let’s get something clear, these people who say that would be the first to
complain if their neighbour did anything to reduce the value of their home for
example, or dared to trespass on their business. Some people who say that now,
WILL be victims of technological change in the near future.

Now, taking action that is to the detriment of another
person is usually frowned upon, except when technology is concerned, then it’s
all gung ho, let’s steam ahead with no thought for those affected.

Now, the number of people who will be left able to have a
job, in the next fifty years, could fall as low as five or six percent of the
working age population.

Robots and AI can almost certainly, replace 94% to 95% of
all existent jobs.

So, to ignore what is a major change in the whole nature of
Human life, and to just say, ‘people will work things out for themselves’, is
foolish.

Look at History, violence will not be the last resort of
people dispossessed from the economy ‘en masse’, it’ll be the first resort.

To say people will find new occupations is foolish. They
said that in Britain about Mining Towns under Thatcher, and guess what? The
towns withered away.

People cannot compete with Robotics and Automation, and they
shouldn’t have to.

A new definition of what it means to actually be a citizen
is needed, while a State actually exists.

Technology should, and could quite easily be made to serve
all Humanity, false mantras about Free Enterprise and ‘Market forces’, are just
the smokescreen of people wanting to protect their own entrenched economic
privilege. A privilege they will lose, if change isn’t managed effectively and
to the benefit of the majority of people. Now, certainly over the years, many
non jobs, and partial jobs, have been sustained, often in the Public Sector as
a means of dividing up the Surplus of Production. Now of course, higher home
prices, has led (in Britain) to a surge in Buy To Let Landlords , who’s Rents
are provided, often in full, by the Taxpayer, through Housing Benefit.

In other words, the State is choosing to provide an
allocation of Resources to one part of Society, almost entirely on Arbitrary
grounds.

British families, outside of the top echelons, usually have
little or no inherited wealth, the surge in House prices, has created some,
which Gov’t policy changes, for example to Adult Social Care Costs, has helped
to remove again.

So, it brings us back to the looming disaster for the Labour
Market.

How do you allocate resources, fairly, equitably, between Citizens,
when you have entrenched, fortified even, positions of Wealth Ownership and
Control, who frankly don’t want to share a penny more than they have to.

Now, the only real limit to physical wealth creation, is the
natural resources consumed in production.

The potential production of products to satisfy Consumer
needs , and wants, is far in excess of the actual need, or want, within reason.
No one is suggesting that everyone who wants a Yacht should have one, that’s
ridiculous. But the ordinary things, suffer no limit of scarcity other than
that imposed by Manufacturers and the Price mechanism.

The Price Mechanism, in all Markets, is being rigged, by a
select few players, to what they want it to be. Even so, gluts in Raw Materials
exist in most categories, the main exception being Rare Earth Elements, but
even those supplies are not actually ‘Strained’ in any way.

What Humanity is actually short of, is Imagination, and
Guts.

The 19th Century Model of Economic activity, has
never worked very well, for anyone, and with the dawn of an age, wherein a
Computer can do the work of Ten Thousand Clerks, in less than a Second, and one
Factory Robot, the work of Fifty Men or more, there is a real serious need for
a replacement model.

Such a model could be phased in gradually, perhaps over a
century, with good planning and foresight.

As Robots and Computers replace people, people need new
purposes in life, and new sources of income so they can participate in Society.

Perhaps a form of Universal Basic Income is the way ahead.
In Britain in effect, through Housing Benefit, available to those who Rent
property only, there sort of is, already, because Working people are its main
recipient, especially in the expensive cities.

It makes a joke of the old notion of a Free Market, because
it represents a subsidy to the cost of Workers for any Employer whose Employees
receive it. People who own Property do not receive this form of Basic Income,
despite that they might be paying for a Mortgage or indeed be Unemployed. It
could be argued that they get Tax Free Annual Gains from House Price
appreciation, but you have to sell your house to realise that! And of course,
you need somewhere to live afterwards!

So in Britain we have a situation where, even as Jobs
vanish, the Wealth divide is being expanded, widened, arbitrarily.

The obvious solution is to slowly expand the Cooperative,
Social Employment Sector, enabling people, who have no money, to start or get
involved with activities that create ‘Social Wealth’ in their locality. It would
give them a sense of purpose, and would help create Communities, and provide
care for those who need it.

Robots will eventually replace Doctors and Nurses, without
doubt, but in the mean time Carer and Social positions are an option.

But they need to be funded. Because we struggle on under a
19th Century system, such funding can only reliably come from the
State, waiting for Charity or Corporate sponsors would inevitably lead to
certain areas being unfairly supported above others, the prejudices of the
Sponsors coming through.

The idea of supporting local Cooperatives, with State
Funding could be a good one, but of course, as 85% of new small businesses in
the UK fail within the first three years, it begs the question how? One off
Grants? That could be an open opportunity for Fraud. Long term Grants, same
problem.

So, a structure needs to be in place, to Police the uses
such funds are put to, to keep the whole thing honest.

Unless the system was organised centrally.

Unfortunately, whilst the Gov’ts in Britain and America both
love Centralising Power, they do not like taking responsibility at a local
level, and certainly in Britain, Gov’ts have done everything they can to cut
the Public Sector to the bone.

These cuts have been, for the most part entirely for
Dogmatic reasons, not for reasons of efficiently. Many examples exist (see
Private Eye) of Privatisations, and Outsourcing, that have ended up costing the
Taxpayer far, far more than the original Public provision.

To me, the obvious way to ensure that local Social
Cooperatives spend their money wisely, is to have the Staffing, Payroll, and
Budgets, centrally administered by a branch of the Civil Service.

So each Cooperative member would have a pay grade, and a
salary. The Director of the cooperative, would present requests for purchases
and so on, for authorisation to the central body, who following rules agreed by
Parliament, would approve or not such requests depending on whether they fell
within the remit of the Cooperatives activities. Various categories of
Cooperative could be defined for various purposes.

Should the Cooperative undertake trading activities, such
Cashflow should pass through a central Accounts system, any profits, being used
to offset the whole Departments expenditure.

So, you could think of the whole Cooperative system as a
Corporation, if you wished, but one established to address local Social needs
rather than the self aggrandisement of a few Executives.

The Dogmatists will of course hate the idea of anything that
does not make them or their cronies a profit at some point.

But what price do you put on having Safe, Happy Communities?
How much incidental trading profit would arise in private business, from having
Cooperative Employees in their area? We all live in one Goldfish bowl, and the
ripples of happiness or unhappiness reach us all. Unless you are going to build
yourself a Bunker, and what would be the point of living like that?
Now, Gov’ts have demonstrated themselves as being perfectly happy to PRINT
MONEY, in order to look after the very few, surely the economic benefits of
funding a wide reaching, pervasive and equitable Cooperative system would
justify the creation of extra Tokens of Authority, which is all money is, at
the end of the day.

With a system in place to cushion and absorb surplus Labour,
you could then march your Robots in with a clear conscience and with less
resistance.